


The First Step Forward

by AdmirableMonster (Mertiya)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Celebrations, Elections, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, M/M, Other, i'm not super patriotic normally but GODDAMN, just for one day, this might be a thinly-veiled celebratory fic, what of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:06:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mertiya/pseuds/AdmirableMonster
Summary: i think we all know why i'm posting thisi might be crying a little
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27





	The First Step Forward

**Author's Note:**

> i think we all know why i'm posting this
> 
> i might be crying a little

Oh. It was morning again. Billy Kaplan stared out his window. At least it wasn’t raining anymore, but he still wasn’t certain he could get out of bed. The anxiety and depression had their claws in deep, in a way they hadn’t in nearly a decade. But the last four years had been so hard, and now the waiting—he stared at the ceiling. No, he couldn’t get out of bed, he decided at last, curling into a little ball and wishing he wasn’t forcing his husband and daughter to deal with him in this state. But he knew from experience that nothing was going to help. It would pass when it passed, even if that meant he had to get out of bed and shoulder another four years just as terrifying and full of sorrow as the last ones had been.

There was a shriek from the living room, and that got him to sit up, because that was Katie. Damn, had something happened? He threw himself out of bed, not bothering with slippers or robe, and raced into the living room. 

The TV was on, because of course it was—Katie and Teddy must have been watching coverage live, and Katie had out her laptop as well, but it was now lying on the floor in a heap. She must have dropped it. Good thing they’d gotten it that protective case, part of Billy’s mind noted. But, on the TV, there was Steve Roger’s smiling face, and beside him on the left, Bucky Rogers, and beside him on the right, America Chavez.

“Mr. President,” Steve Rogers said, with the smile that had won the heart of a nation, with the gentle firmness that had lighted a torch of hope in everyone’s heart, “you are _fired_.”

“Oh my god,” Billy said hoarsely, and he sat down.

“DAD!” shrieked Katie, “Dad—he _won!_ He _won_!”

Teddy was crying, tears trickling slowly down his face as he got up from the arm of the couch where he’d been perched and went to sit down beside Billy. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” he said. “It’s really all right. He’s won by a landslide—it’s just taken time for us to realize. A landslide. It’s all right.”

_It’s all right_. Katie catapulted herself in between them, and all of a sudden it had become Family Hug Time, not that Billy was complaining.

“President Rogers,” Teddy tried out. “I like the sound of that. President Rogers. First Man Bucky. First Lady? It might depend on the day, I suppose.”

“Vice President America Chavez has a great ring to it, too,” Billy managed to get out. “Gods. I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Teddy said him, softly, gently. “Believe it, love.”

On the screen, Steve was still talking. “I know what the last four years have done to all of you—to all of us,” he was saying. “I know what a hard time it’s been, and my heart goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one in these tumultuous times. This isn’t the end. We still have a long, hard road, but we’re in this together, and this is our first step forward. You’ve spoken—you, the people of the United States, have spoken, and your message is loud and clear. I’m honored to have been chosen by you to lead you as we keep moving forward. You have my word, I won’t disappoint you.”

Bucky grinned at his shoulder and took his hand. America stepped forward. “We’re here, folks,” she said, and she was grinning broadly, too. “Let’s do this.”


End file.
